May 7, 2009

Dr. Michael Oren, the man, not the historian

Dr. Michael Oren is seemingly going to be the next Israeli Ambassador to Washington. His credentials seem to show he is highly qualified for the job, and his book "Six Days of War" about the Six-Day war was absolutely amazing.

Dan Gordon, writing for the American Thinker, relates a very personal story of serving in the Israeli army, during the Second Lebanon War, alongside Michael Oren.

What most people don't realize is that for the first few weeks of that war Israel actually had fewer troops on the ground than Hezbollah. They quite literally outnumbered Israeli forces on the ground until the last few days of the war. A battle had been raging and Israel had taken casualties. They were looking for volunteers to go into Lebanon as a covering party and hook up with several ambulances that were evacuating wounded. They couldn't land a chopper because it was right in the heart of Hezbollah strongholds and they would have been shot out of the sky by anti air craft missiles.

Without saying a word Michael was the first to pick up his gear and volunteer.

We were a half dozen middle aged reserve officers. We didn't have an armored vehicle, so we actually went into Lebanon in my Avis rent a car. After looking for the ambulance for what seemed like hours we realized there was a screw up in co-ordinates and we were sitting ducks in a rent a car in Lebanon.

We headed back into Israel and waited at the border crossing for word on where the ambulances were. After a while the same officer found us and acknowledged that there had been a screw up in co-ordinates. Now there was another problem.

There was an ambulance with four dead Israeli soldiers that needed a covering party to go in for their evacuation. Again it was too dangerous for helicopters to land. Again they were asking for volunteers. Again Michael was the first to pick up his gear and volunteer.

My son had been killed at the age of twenty two in a horrific car accident. Michael's son had been wounded in action in a fire fight with terrorists. To all of us middle aged men these fallen boys could have been our sons. We went back into Lebanon in the rent a car.

We hooked up with the ambulance in a wadi or deep ravine. Flairs were going off above us, which meant that Hezb'allah knew we were there and were hunting for us. We served as the covering force while the fallen were evacuated. Later Michael's daughter, who was serving as a social worker in the Golani Brigade, called Michael on his cell phone. Her unit had taken a lot of wounded; most of them were her friends.

Michael turned to me and said, "My daughter needs a hug. Can I borrow your car?" The two of us drove down from the Lebanese border to Rambam Hospital in Haifa. Michael spent a half hour with his daughter; gave her a much needed hug and then the two of us drove back near dawn to rejoin our unit.

That is the kind of man Israel's ambassador designate to the U.S. is. He wouldn't hesitate to endanger his life not only to recover wounded, but to recover the fallen, and though exhausted himself, drove round trip, four hours to give his daughter a hug when she most needed her father's love.

There are other people who can amply describe Doctor Oren's experience in diplomacy. He has served a number of Prime Ministers and is a fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem, which contains such luminaries as Nathan Shiransky and Lieutenant General (Res.) Moshe Ya'Alon.

I, on the other, hand can tell you about the man. Both Israel and the U.S. would be lucky to have Doctor Michael Oren serving in Washington.

(HatTip to some dude on twitter - don't remember who and can't find it now. Given upon request. Twitter is good for something.)

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About Me

I am a regular Joe with a Yeshiva background. I learned in Telshe Yeshiva, Heichal HaTorah (R' Tzvi Kushelevsky), and a now defunct Halacha Kollel. I have semicha from R' Zalman Nechemia Goldberg and kaballa in Shechita from Dayan Schwartz of Kehillas HaYeraim (Chomas HaKashrus). I have a college degree in Finance from Touro College and am also a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer.
My wife and I, with our 8 children, ben porat yosef (knayna hara), live in Eretz Yisrael.